Biblical Hebrew Forum

[davedonnelly1 AT juno.com]

On Thu Aug 26 17:41:25 EDT 2010 
Yigal Levin wrote:

>>>

Okay, let me rephrase: 
in Jewish tradition, God's true personal name is YHWH.
 
Jewish tradition, however, considers this name to be too sacred to
pronounce, and thus does not bother itself with the question of how to
pronounce it. 

Instead, tradition adopted a series of surrogate pronunciations,
the most common of which is Adonai, meaning "my Lord(s)".

The second most common is "Elohim", mostly when YHWH is proceeded by the
word "Adonai" spelled out - as in Deut. 3:24. 

The Mesorets indicated which of these pronunciations should be used 
by the Nikkud that they supplied for the word in various places. 

Yigal Levin

>>>

Dave writes:

Thank you for the clarification,

Garth Grenache sent me an off-list email and said:

"Yigal's message reaffirms the stance of almost all scholars:
"The various M[a]soretic pointings of the name simply indicate 
which substitute pronunciation should be used, 
not that that is the "true" pronunciation of YHWH."

Dave writes:

While it may be true that God's true personal name is YHWH,
6 different variants of YHWH occur in Codex L.

https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/b-hebrew/2005-July/024068.html

At the link above , [in July 2005] Peter Kirk wrote how each of these 6
variants of YHWH were written.

>>>
Here are some statistics "for YHWH pointed as Elohim" in the Westminster 
Leningrad Codex:

Y:EHWIH - 2 (GEN 15:2,8)
Y:EHOWIH - 1 (JDG 16:28)
Y:HWIH - 271
Y:HOWIH - 31 (1KI 2:26; PSA 73:28; 140:8; ISA 50:4; JER 1:6; 7:20; EZK 
2:4; 3:11,27; 5:5; 8:1; 12:10; 13:16; 14:21,23; 16:36; 17:9; 20:39; 
21:33; 22:31; 23:32; 24:6,14; 26:21; 28:2; 30:22; 33:25; 39:17; 43:27; 
46:16; ZEC 9:14)
W:L"YHWIH - 1 (PSA 68:21)

And then for comparison, other cases of YHWH:

Y:HWFH - 4488
Forms ending in Y:HWFH - 1187
Forms ending in YHWFH - 788
Y:HOWFH - 30 (GEN 3:14; 9:26; EXO 3:2; 13:3,9,15; 14:1,8; LEV 25:17; DEU 
32:9; 33:12,13; 1KI 3:5; PSA 15:1; 40:5; 47:6; 100:5; 116:5,6; PRO 1:29; 
JER 2:37; 3:22,25; 4:3; 5:3,19; 6:9; 36:8; EZK 44:5; NAM 1:3)
Forms ending in Y:HOWFH - 14 (DEU 31:27; 1KI 16:33; JER 3:1,13,21; 4:8; 
5:2,9,15,18,22,29; 8:13; 30:10)
Forms ending in YHOWFH - 1 (GEN 18:17; EXO 13:12; LEV 23:34; JER 3:23; 
4:4; EZK 46:13)
>>>

It seems that Peter Kirk believed that: 


Y:EHWIH - 2 (GEN 15:2,8)
Y:EHOWIH - 1 (JDG 16:28)
Y:HWIH - 271
and
Y:HOWIH - 31  
Should all be read as "Elohim" even though only Y:EHOWIH had the precise
same vowel points as did "Elohim"

AND
It seems that Peter Kirk believed that 
Y:HWFH - 4488 should be read as "Adonai" even though it did not have the
precise same vowel points as did "Adonai"
AND 
Y:HOWFH - 30 should be read as "Adonai" even though it did not have the
precise same vowel points as 
did "Adonai"

So while Peter Kirk wrote all 6 variants of "YHWH" that occur in the
Leningrad Codex,
only one of these variants seems to have met the requirements that are
generally associated 
with examples of permant Qere.
That of course would be Y:EHOWIH  which occurs only at (JDG 16:28) 
and that has the precise same vowel points as does "Elohim"

It appears to me as a layman, that these six variants of YHWH are not all
analyzed by one set of rules 
and that the Jewish reader who is trying to determine how he or she will
read each of these 6 variants 
must have to do a little bit of thinking as to just how he or she will
read each of these variants of YHWH.

Of course I assume that any Jewish reader who has to determine how to
read each of these 6 variants of YHYH must have memorized the answers
beforehand.

Dave Donnelly 
____________________________________________________________
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If you owe under $729k you probably qualify for Obama's Refi Program
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>From JimStinehart AT aol.com  Fri Aug 27 10:49:40 2010
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Aramaic to Hebrew language switch?
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Randall Buth:
=20
1.  You wrote:  =E2=80=9CJim, I'm in a fun moode.  Lapis lazuli. Cool stuf=
f.=E2=80=9D
=20
Genesis 12: 5 refers to KL RKW$M that Abraham and Lot brought with them=20
from Harran to Canaan.  That phrase could well include lapis lazuli, becau=
se=20
the shortened form RK$ of that same word is used on four occasions in chap=
ter=20
14 of Genesis to refer to =E2=80=9Cloot=E2=80=9D, that is, valuable items=
 of the ruling=20
class.  Genesis 14: 11 refers to the KL RK$ of SDM, and Genesis 14: 16 ref=
ers=20
to KL H-RK$, being =E2=80=9Call the loot=E2=80=9D that was first taken fro=
m SDM by the four=20
attacking rulers, and then returned to SDM by Abraham.  The provincial cit=
y=20
of Ur was still the premier place in the world to buy lapis lazuli in=20
Kassite Babylonia.  Indeed, there would be no reason to go to Ur except to=
 buy=20
lapis lazuli at wholesale.  Finally, selling that lapis lazuli to Pharaoh=
 was=20
what brought considerable wealth to Abraham and Lot and their people.
=20
2.  You wrote:  =E2=80=9CMeanwhile, while on the theme of the perfect
batqol-Hebrew of Gen 12, I love the use of the pure volitional 'be a=20
blessing' for a future promise.  that's quite effective, and I end on that=
 serious=20
note.=E2=80=9D
=20
It should be no surprise that Abraham=E2=80=99s first meeting with YHWH fe=
atures=20
perfect Hebrew, as that was Abraham=E2=80=99s native language.  Note that=
 there are no=20
language issues when Abraham converses with Canaanites in Canaan.  Note=20
also that chapter 14 of Genesis, the oldest part of the Bible, features pe=
rfect=20
Hebrew, composed by an early Hebrew, once again indicating that the first=
=20
Hebrews were native speakers of Hebrew, not immigrants from southern=20
Mesopotamia who had picked up Hebrew in Canaan on the fly as a second lang=
uage.  No=20
way!
=20
3.  But you didn=E2=80=99t answer any of the three questions we asked you:
=20
(a)  Do you agree that Biblical Hebrew is a virgin pure west Semitic=20
language?  In my view, the language itself is telling us that the Hebrews=
 are=20
indigenous to Canaan -- a west Semitic-speaking locale.
=20
(b)  Is Terakh/TRX a west Semitic name, based at least in part on the verb=
=20
TRX in Ugaritic?  If so, that would not square with a claim that the text=
=20
allegedly portrays Terakh and his ancestors as hailing from southern Mesop=
ot
amia somewhere near Ur.
=20
(c)  Is Abram/)B-RM the most perfect Hebrew name imaginable, meaning =E2=
=80=9C(the=20
divine) Father is exalted=E2=80=9D?  If so, that is once again thoroughly=
=20
inconsistent with the traditional and scholarly view that the text alleged=
ly portrays=20
Abraham as having been born near Ur in southern Mesopotamia, a locale wher=
e=20
west Semitic was not a prominent language.  There=E2=80=99s no TRX or )BRM=
 in=20
Akkadian from southern Babylonia, but both names make perfect sense in wes=
t=20
Semitic.  Although TRX exists as a noun in Aramaic, it makes no sense in=
 relation=20
to Abraham=E2=80=99s father, as opposed to the verb TRX in Ugaritic.  [The=
 name )BRM=20
would probably work in Aramaic.]=20
=20
You know Biblical Hebrew very well, so all of these language issues should=
=20
be quite obvious to you.  Yet I never see these particular language issues=
=20
being raised in the scholarly commentaries on the Patriarchal narratives.=
 =20
Scholars continue to repeat the non-scholarly traditional view that the te=
xt=20
allegedly portrays the Hebrews as originating in southern Mesopotamia near=
=20
Ur, with scholars sometimes adding that the Hebrews did not in fact origin=
ate=20
near Ur so the text is fiction.  Based on language issues alone, the bette=
r=20
view is that Abraham is portrayed in the text as being indigenous to Canaa=
n,=20
and he went on a one-time caravan trip way out east to Ur to buy lapis=20
lazuli as commercial merchandise.  If I am misunderstanding or misrepresen=
ting=20
the language issues here, many of us would learn from your analysis of suc=
h=20
language issues.=20
=20
4.  It would also be nice if you would compare Khuburu/XBR as Ugaritic Kin=
g=20
Keret=E2=80=99s mythical kingdom to the XBRWN of the Patriarchs, including=
=20
explaining the presence of the vav/W in the Biblical text.
=20
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois